Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is a port of the PS3 title of the same name ... which is, in turn, a sequel to a 2009 iOS game. As a whole, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is a hack-n-slash title with a lot of RPG elements that is a fun experience for those times that you want to turn off your mind and just plow through countless numbers of enemies. Besides the fact that the $40.00 price tag feels a little steep for what the game offers, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is a good experience.

The game does a good job of showing off the PS Vita's graphical capabilities. The 3D environments, characters and visual effects all look outstanding on the handheld. Of the several Vita launch titles I've played, I've been most impressed by this particular game - at least as far as 3D games are concerned. Besides the system's small screen, this game can easily be compared to the visual quality of PSN titles and hold its own.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance's sound does the trick as well. While the game doesn't produce any music that will get stuck in your head, it definitely has the right feel for any adventuring party. Besides cut-scenes, there aren't any voiceovers, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've believed for a while that most portable and mobile games shouldn't hinge on sound since they should be able to be played in more crowded environments. The exception, of course, being audio-centric games where sound is everything (i.e. Lumines). As for Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, the sound is solid and really works so enjoy it when you can.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance puts you in control of a revived king who awakens from death to find that his queen has become a tyrant and she has turned his kingdom into a dreary and twisted place. While the story does a lot to set up the general situation, it feels like little more than window dressing for the hack-n-slash action that is Dungeon Hunter: Alliance.

You can choose to be one of three classes: Warrior, Rogue and Mage, and while the story is the same, your abilities, base stats and usable equipment change. Having played a good bit with each character type, I can say that while there are superficial differences between the classes, the characters still feel and play pretty much the same no matter which type you pick. Unfortunately, one major detractor for the game is the playtime. I found myself getting through the game's story relatively quickly, making the game feel much shorter than the price point would lead you to believe.

Where some hack-n-slash titles might be light on RPG elements, Dungeon Hunter goes the other direction by giving you tons of leveling and equipment options. So, even though the action aspect of the game can be pretty mindless, the elements concerning how to tweak and personalize your character may require some serious thought if you want to try and use certain types of equipment.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance offers a multiplayer experience as well. Up to four players can get together either locally or over the Vita's online connection. While most of the game can be easily handled with just one fighter on the field, there are quite a few times when additional players are handy - but more on the game's difficulty in the next section.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance prefers to throw hordes of enemies at you with the occasional massive boss, rather than employing intriguing or clever A.I. As a result, the ease of the game is all about how well you keep your character's level up and maintain your equipment to augment your base stats.

Regardless of your particular loadout, there are still plenty of difficulty spikes that can make Dungeon Hunter: Alliance downright frustrating at times. The first such time I encountered one of these overly-tough situations was with the first major boss in the game, the Troll King. This massive enemy has a few interesting attacks, but his main defense is his huge hit points. This is a pattern you will see over and over again when it comes to the game's bigger bosses.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance sticks to it's hack-n-slash nature right down to its easy controls. The game uses one main attack button, (X), for your primary attack. As you level up your character, you can assign various active skills to the other face buttons and activate them with a quick tap of the assigned button. Movement uses the Left Analog Stick, while the Right Shoulder Button lets you interact with the environment and the Left one lets you use the potion you have loaded up. The one exception to this game's simple controls is how you control and activate your fairy companion.

You can move the fairy around the screen with either the Right Analog Stick or the back Touchpad. This sounds simple, but when you are in the heat of a battle or in the middle of a horde of enemies, it is hard to pull your right thumb away from your attack button, or guide your fingers along the back of the system. To make things more confusing for your fingers, you activate the fairy's power by double-tapping the screen.

Okay, so think about this. You are tapping (X) to fight off enemies. You want to use your fairy, so you either guide it with the stick (and remove your thumb from the attack button), or you use the awkward back of the system. Now you've gotten your fairy in the right place, but again, you either have to tap with your right thumb, and leave the (X) button again, or use your right which is how you move your character. Personally, I feel that any time a game tries to mix button and touchscreen controls, especially if it involves a heated battle, there is something wrong. It's hard to easily switch between hitting the buttons and hitting the screen. This is a lesson developers should have learned a long time ago with the Nintendo DS.

The other problem with this setup is the fact that I seem to hold the Vita wrong, and I would imagine I'm not the only one. Based on its design, you are supposed to keep your fingers positioned resting in the groove flanking the back touchpad. I typically find this cramps my fingers during lengthy gameplay sessions. Unfortunately, in Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, if you let your fingers stretch a bit and rest on the touchpad, your fairy doesn't move on its own and just sits there in one place. Somewhat annoying.

If you are looking for an RPG hack-n-slash title to invest in for your Vita and you don't want to see what will be coming down the pipe in the next few months, then Dungeon Hunter: Alliance isn't a bad choice. It has its issues that come with any new system, but it is a good, mindless action game.